1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to a magnetic read head for use in a hard disk drive.
2. Description of the Related Art
The heart of a computer is a magnetic disk drive which typically includes a rotating magnetic disk, a slider that has read and write heads, a suspension arm above the rotating disk and an actuator arm that swings the suspension arm to place the read and/or write heads over selected circular tracks on the rotating disk. The suspension arm biases the slider towards the surface of the disk when the disk is not rotating but, when the disk rotates, air is swirled by the rotating disk adjacent an air bearing surface (ABS) of the slider causing the slider to ride on an air bearing a slight distance from the surface of the rotating disk. When the slider rides on the air bearing, the write and read heads are employed for writing magnetic transitions corresponding to host data. The read and write heads are connected to a signal processing circuitry that operates according to a computer program to implement the writing and reading functions.
Improved signal to noise ratio (SNR) in magnetic recording involves improved reader resolution in the down-track and cross-track directions to enable reading the closely packed transitions on a narrow track. Reader resolution and SNR is mostly determined by the reader sensitivity (dR/R), RA product and shield to shield spacing. Most of the gains in readers have come from continuous improvement in the film stack and reduction in shield to shield spacing. The material limits are just about reached.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for an improved read head.